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CHAPTER II.

THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN.

Table of Contents

LANDING OF JULIUS CÆSAR.

1. The Romans, about the time of the birth of Christ, were the richest, the most powerful, and the cleverest people in the world. Rome was a grand city, and there were many other fine cities in Italy belonging to the Romans, who knew how to build handsome houses, and make beautiful gardens, besides being excellent farmers.

2. They had elegant furniture, and pictures, and marble statues; and they were well educated, and wrote a great number of books in Latin, for that was their language, and many of those books are used in our schools to this day.

3. They had large armies, and had conquered a great many countries, when Julius Cæsar, a great Roman General, brought an army to Britain, about fifty years before the birth of our Saviour, to try to conquer the Britons also; but thousands of British warriors went down to the sea shore, by Dover cliffs, to fight the Romans as soon as they landed; and they took a great many war chariots with them, and fought so bravely, that after two or three battles, Cæsar offered to make peace with them, and go away, if their princes would pay tribute to the Roman government; which they consented to do.

4. However, the Romans thought no more about Britain for nearly a hundred years, when they came again, and went to war in earnest with the natives, who at length were obliged to submit to them; and Britain became a part of the Roman Empire, just as India is at this time a part of the British Empire.

5. Now this was a good thing for the Britons, although they did not then think so; for as soon as they left off fighting, the Romans began to teach them all they knew, and to make a much better place of Britain than it had ever been before.

6. As soon as a part of the country was conquered, some great man was sent from Rome to govern it, and to make the people obey the Roman laws.

7. Then other great men came to live here, and brought their families and furniture and plate from Rome; and built fine houses, and planted gardens, with flowers and fruit trees, and vegetables, that were never seen here before, for they brought the roots and seeds and young trees with them.

8. At first, the Roman governors made the Britons pay very heavy taxes; not in money, for they had none; but they were obliged to give a part of their cattle, and corn, and metals, or any thing else they had; and to work with the Roman soldiers at building, making roads, draining the watery lands, and cutting down trees, to make room for houses and gardens.

9. They did not like this, and one of the tribes, named the Iceni, who lived in that part of Britain which is now called Norfolk and Suffolk, determined to make another effort to drive the Romans out of the country.

10. You will be surprised to hear that they were headed by a woman; but there were queens among the Britons as well as kings; and the king of the Iceni being dead, his widow Boadicea governed in his stead.

11. She encouraged her people to rebel against their new rulers, and led them to battle herself, mounted in a chariot, and armed like a warrior; but the Romans won the battle, and the brave but unfortunate queen put an end to her own life.

12. After this, there was another long war, which lasted till all the South British tribes were subdued, and the Roman government established all over the country, except the north part of Scotland.

13. It was lucky for the Britons that a very good Roman, named Agricola, was made governor about this time, for he behaved so kindly that they began to like the Romans, and to wish to live as they did, and to know how to do all the clever things they could do.

14. I should tell you that all the Roman soldiers were educated as engineers and builders, surveyors, and cultivators of land, and when not actually engaged in fighting, they were employed daily for four hours in some such out-of-door labour or occupation; so, when the war was over, they were set to work to improve the country, and the Britons had to help them.

15. They made good hard broad roads, paved with stones firmly cemented together, and set up mile stones upon them.

16. The Romans had built London during the war, and given it the name of Augusta, but the houses were almost all barracks for the soldiers and their families, so that it was not nearly so handsome as York and Bath, and many other cities that they built in place of the old British towns.

17. The Britons, who had never seen any thing better than their own clay huts, must have been quite astonished at the fine houses constructed by the Romans; who also built, in every city, temples, theatres, and public baths, with large rooms for people to meet in, like a coffee house.

18. Then, in each town, was a market place for people to buy and sell goods, and the Romans taught the Britons generally to use money, which was more convenient than taking things in exchange.

19. The Romans were excellent farmers, as I said before; so they shewed the natives how to manage their land better than they had done, and how to make many useful implements of husbandry.

20. By cutting down the forest trees, which they used in building, they obtained more land for cultivation, and grew so much corn that there was more than enough for the people in Britain, so that a great deal was sent every year to the Roman colonies in Germany.

21. By degrees, the Britons left off their old habits, and those above the lowest rank wore the Roman dress, spoke the Roman language, and adopted the manners and customs of their conquerors, who treated them as friends and equals.

22. There were schools opened in all the towns, where British and Roman boys were instructed together, and the former were all brought up to serve in the Roman armies; for there were no more wars among the British princes; who held the same rank as before, but paid tribute to the Roman governor, and were under his authority, as many of the princes of India are now under the authority of the English Governor General in India.

23. The Britons had to pay a great many taxes, but they likewise enjoyed many rights, for the Roman laws were much better laws than those of the Druids, which were made for barbarians, and not for civilized people, such as the Britons had now become.

24. You will, perhaps, wonder what the Druids were about all this time. The Romans did not approve of their religion, so they put an end to it very soon, after they came here; but what became of the Druids, is not exactly known.

25. It is supposed that many of them were killed by the Romans in the isle of Anglesea, where the chief Druid always resided; and that all the rest fled to Scotland, or the Isle of Man.

26. The Romans, however, were themselves heathens, when they first settled in Britain, and worshipped a number of false gods; but their gods were different from those of the Druids, and the rites and ceremonies of their religion were different too.

27. But, in course of time, many of the Romans became Christians, and Christianity was taught in Britain, where the heathen temples were converted into Christian churches, and the Britons, as well as the Romans, at length learned to worship the one true God.

28. The Romans had kept possession of Britain for more than three hundred years, when it happened that great armies of barbarians went to fight against Rome, and all the soldiers were sent for, to try to drive them away again; so that this country was left unprotected, for it was the Roman soldiers who had kept enemies from coming here.

29. The Britons hoped they would come back again, as they did more than once; but affairs got worse and worse at Rome, so the rulers there sent word to the British princes, that they did not wish to keep the island any longer, therefore the Britons might consider themselves a free people. But was freedom a blessing to them? I think we shall find it was not.

QUESTIONS.

3. By whom was Britain first invaded?

4. When did the Romans again appear?

5. Was this conquest a good or bad thing for the Britons, and why?

8. What occasioned the revolt of the Iceni?

10. Who headed the insurrection, and what were its consequences?

13. Who was Agricola?

14. How were the Roman soldiers employed in time of peace?

15. Tell me of the improvements made in Britain by the Romans.

25. What became of the Druids?

28. When and why did the Romans leave Britain?